The Changing Pandora Business Model

radioink.com – CEO Tim Westergren and his new team get a very long profile piece by John Titlow in Fast Company as Westergren dives into his new role as CEO replacing Brian McAndrews. The article, entitled “Inside Pandora’s Plan To Reinvent Itself—And Beat Back Apple And Spotify,” details why Westergren has his work cut out for him.

“In 2015, the company failed to grow its audience beyond the 81 million listeners it had at the beginning of the year. And while it pulled in $1.16 billion in revenue last year, it was still $170 million short of profitability.” Titlow says the profitability misses should be blamed on music licensing fees, which do not apply to terrestrial radio or on-demand music services, eating up half of Pandora’s revenue.